What it means to be a monster
by iamthelameface
Summary: A story about GCBC and Benny. Coppernauts Monsterverse AU: GCBC is a futakuchi and Benny is a cosmic entity Please enjoy! There will be multiple chapters!
1. Bad Date

It had happened again. Bad was sitting alone at the back of the diner, as he always did when this happened, and sipped his coffee while sneaking food to Good. He would wait until he was certain there was no one looking, then he would grab a pancake or slice of bacon and hold it at the back of his head until his brother grabbed it. Good was usually reluctant to eat when this happened, but hunger always won out.

Good got lonely easily, understandably, so Bad did his best to accommodate his social needs. He had been wanting for a relationship, so Bad decided to approach some guy who lingered around him at work often enough and ask him to a date. Today they had been on their second one.

It happened earlier that night; they had been in the park, sitting on a bench. Their date's arm had been draped around Bad's shoulders, but Bad hadn't been paying attention as he usually did when in close proximity others, he had been busy stargazing. He couldn't inside the city, so he took advantage of the opportunity. This leisure was not without consequence, for whatever reason, their date had decided to move his hand to the back of the cops' head and rake his fingers through their hair. Bad jerked away a moment too late, the man had already begun screaming and desperately pulling at his arm to no avail. Quickly, bad batted at the top of his head to make his brother stop and release the man's fingers. The next thing Bad knew his hair was whipping around his head and Good had turned their body around to call after their date, who had already begun running away. The reply he gave still sat heavily on Good's mind, even as he ate and listened to the faint, jazzy tune someone had queued on the juke box.

"Bad… am I just a problem?" Good whimpered.

"Good, what are you talking about?" Bad asked, though he already knew; this wasn't a new conversation.

"He said we were a freak, a monster."

"We are a monster." Bad responded simply.

"But that wasn't it. He was fine with our ears when he thought it was just you. He was fine with just you." Good's voice was cracking slightly, Bad tried to give him a piece of blueberry pancake, but he swatted it away with a lock of hair. "I don't want to eat anything! That's all I ever do! That and cry and complain to you about being lonely and make messes of things!" Good was able to raise his voice for once, the only other people present were staff. Despite this, he lowered it again and spoke more softly. "I didn't even like him that much; I just wanted to feel like someone liked me. No one ever comes near me… I couldn't let him leave. I'm sorry Bad." Good started sniffling.

Bad tried to comfort his brother. "Now don't feel like that, there's nothing to apologize for." Bad pushed away his aviators to rub his eyes while thinking of what to say. "He wasn't anything special anyway; I was planning on breaking it off soon." Bad only half-lied, he really hadn't been interested but he wouldn't have broken up with him unless Good wanted to, the whole thing had been for Good's sake anyway. Most of Bad's social outings were for Good's sake, his loneliness wasn't a new problem, so Bad often participated in relationships he had no interest in. It was normal for him, just as normal as nonchalantly slipping another pancake to the back of his head. "Now will you take it this time?"

"Yes." Good accepted; even if he didn't want it to, food always made him feel even a little bit better. He spoke again after swallowing. "Thank you Bad, really. Not just for the pancakes, I know you didn't like him much, thank you for doing that for me."

Bad waved his hand and slipped his brother some bacon. "You're family, and you deserve to be happy, it's no trouble. We'll just keep trying until someone deserves you."

"Now you sound like Mum." Good said as he munched.

"Oh shut it." He stuffed another slice in Good's mouth, who began to chuckle.

"He'd have to be good enough for you too."


	2. And that makes five

"Man, are you serious?"

"Look, I'm sorry, but that's how it's got to be." Three new patrons, a construction worker, an astronaut, and a girl in a hoodie, had entered the diner. Two of them were having something of an argument.

"But all that stuff we did, I was risking my tail out there for these people. Metaphorically. Besides, there's like no one here!"

"Hey, quiet down." The girl intervened. She put her arm on the astronaut's shoulder. "I'm sorry Benny, but Emmet's right, the last thing we need is to make a scene. I know it sucks but that's the way it's got to be; and hey, I was out there risking my tail too. Literally."

Emmet had a guilty look on his face. "Look Benny, I'm sorry, really, but that's just the way it's got to be. People just aren't ready yet, give it time. I'm sure people will start to come around." He did his best to sound encouraging, but the astronaut was still clearly miffed, though his face was not visible behind the glass of his visor.

"I've been waiting longer than you've been alive." Benny muttered in reply, crossing his arms.

Lucy intervened again. "You know what, let's change the subject."

"Yeah, sure." Benny seemed less upset already.

Emmet searched his brain for a topic of conversation, but before anything came to mind he spotted a familiar face. "Hey guys," he tugged at their arms and pointed to the back of the diner, "look who it is!"

"It's the fuzz!" Benny shouted with mock fear, jetting to the ceiling.

"Let's go say hi!" Emmet and Benny were already heading over, so Lucy just sighed and followed.

Bad hadn't noticed they were even there until his ears were grabbed suddenly and treated to a rather loud hello. He swatted the hands away and looked up to see a giggling astronaut. Before he could growl out something about manners, there was another hello.

"Hey Bad, what's up?" Bad turned to see Emmet and Lucy. Benny pulled at one of his ears again.

"It's late, what are you three doing here?" He asked as he, a bit roughly, yanked Benny by the foot back to the ground.

The three helped themselves to the free seats at his booth. "I just got off work, so we came here for some milkshakes." Emmet responded. "It's the only good place open and… well… it doesn't have so many windows." Bad knew what he meant, it was the same reason he came by so often. Nobody could see you from the outside.

"Why have you chosen my table?" he asked exhausted. Benny laughed.

"Us monsters got to stick together, even if one of us used to mercilessly hunt down and attempt to capture the others." Benny answered, his voice not carrying even a hint of offense or spite. Bad didn't object further.

"Hey, why don't we actually order something?" Lucy suggested, trying to move the topic away from the past.

Fortunately, the waitress was nearby and had heard they were ready to make their order.

"So what'll y'all be havin'?" Her voice was sugary sweet.

"One large strawberry milkshake, two straws." Lucy ordered, wrapping her arm around Emmet when she mentioned the straws.

"One large orange cream shake ma'am!" Benny practically shouted, jumping up into the air and staying there. She chuckled.

"All right, so, one large strawberry with two straws for you two, and an orange cream for you." She jotted the orders down on a little notepad, and then turned her attention to Bad. "Anything for you?"

"No ma'am."

"Are you sure?" She asked, intentionally rubbing the back of her head as she did so. Bad sighed.

"One large cookies and cream please." He muttered. She smiled and wrote it down

"Okay then, cookies and cream. Those should be right out, 'kay?" She walked back to the kitchen.

"What was that, are you on a diet?" Lucy teased Bad.

He looked flustered. "No, I just- Mind yourself!" He crossed his arms indignantly.

**(Author's Note: Benny pulling Bad's ears is funnier if you know that in monsterverse they are pointy and i headcanon them as being absurdly large.)**


	3. And then there were two

"So Emmet, I've been thinking of getting another streak in my hair." Lucy and Emmet were talking, or rather, Lucy talked and Emmet never removed himself from his straw.

"Mmm?" He made an interested noise.

"Yeah, I've been really hung up on "Official Safety Orange"."

"Mrmr." Emmet made a flattered noise, and then his phone went off. As soon as he looked at it he removed his lips from the straw and began to get out of the booth. "Well, that's my bedtime alarm. That means I've got to get home, I've got work tomorrow." Lucy downed the rest of the drink and slid out after him.

"That means me too, you comin' Benny?"

The astronaut shook his head. "Nah, I can just fly home, I'm not ready to go yet."

"See you two later!" Emmet waved at Benny and Bad, then pointed at the cop. "And hey, don't be a stranger. You should hang out with us!"

Lucy turned to wave bye as well. "See ya Benny." And with that, the couple was gone.

"So I guess I'm stuck with you." Bad spoke, then thought a moment. "What did you mean by 'fly home'?"

Benny laughed. "Hey man, you know! This isn't a costume, it's a uniform." He spoke of his spacesuit with pride, straightening up and floating slightly to show it off. Before Bad could bring up that it was illegal to fly a spaceship within city limits, he noticed Benny's shake was untouched, the astronaut even still had his glass visor on. Bad was puzzled for a moment, then he felt like slapping himself in the face for not noticing sooner.

He knew Benny was a monster. He also knew that not every monster had the privilege of being able to appear human.

Bad Cop took a long drink of his coffee, watching Benny sink back to his seat. Before the astronaut could say anything, Bad raised his hand to cover his eyes. "All right, get on with it then." He said.

"On with what?" Benny asked, chuckling in amused confusion.

"Drinking your shake. Whatever it is you have to do to drink it, just do it, I'm not looking." There was silence for a time as Benny considered this, and then there was the clicking of latches being opened, followed by a hiss of air. After some fumbling around, there was a strange sucking sound, like a cross between mud claiming a shoe and something being vacuum sealed.

After a minute or so of the noise, Benny spoke. "Woo! That hit the spot!" He cheered before putting his helmet back on and clicking in the latches. He laughed again when he noticed Bad's hand still covering his eyes. "Coast's clear, you can open up now."

Bad dropped his hand away and inspected Benny's glass. He was a bit shocked to see it was clean; completely so. Benny took notice.

"Impressed? I always took it to heart when Mom said 'clean your plate'. The same rule extends to cups." Bad rolled his eyes (which was made pointless by his aviators) and shook his head, bemused. Benny spoke again in a more sincere tone than his usual giggles. "Thanks for that, really."

"It's no trouble." Bad responded, not including his painful familiarity with the same dilemma. Benny said nothing for a while, prompting Bad to worry he'd done something wrong. '_You're doing fine!_' Good assured him internally, which did help a bit. Benny had begun stroking his helmet contemplatively; after a time of this he raised his arms up and covered his glass visor.

"Ok, your turn!" Benny cheered, startling Bad. "Here, I'm returning the favor." Bad considered this a moment, then arched his head around to make it easier for Good. Benny couldn't hear much, just, small cheers and little "mmm"s, definitely not Bad's voice.

"I'm done, arms down." When Benny complied he was startled to see the glass completely clean, not a drop of the dairy treat could be seen.

"Man, do you have a sponge hidden somewhere? That thing's sparkling!" Benny laughed again, he did that often.

"I could be asking you the same question." Bad retorted with a nod to Benny's clean glass.

"Okay, that's fair." He replied, still chuckling. Once his laughs died down he seemed restless, looking around the room and drumming his thick, gloved fingers on the table. After a long minute of this silence he turned his attention back to Bad. "Hey, you want to get out of here?"

If Bad had been drinking his coffee when Benny asked that, the poor astronaut would be in the market for a new spacesuit. Once he felt less flustered, he responded eloquently. "Hrm?"

"I don't know much about how cops have fun, but I like to leave town and stargaze."


	4. A Short Drive (and a short chapter)

They had driven out past the edge of the city; Benny going through the cops' CD's the entire drive.

"No Bowie?" He mocked despair to Bad.

"Is this the turn?" the cop asked upon seeing a dirt road, ignoring Benny's question.

Benny floated out of the seat in excitement. "Yeah, that's it!"

Bad decided not to ask when the astronaut had removed his seatbelt and to just instead focus on the dark road.

The spot Benny had picked out was actually really nice, it was out of the way and the view of the stars was beautiful. Benny hopped out of the car and ran over to an old hollow stump. He reached his hand in and removed a blue blanket.

"I come here a lot." He explained while laying it out on the ground. "Come on, have a seat." He waved over to Bad. The officer complied and sat down next to the astronaut. Silence fell quickly and comfortably between them as they were both transfixed by the twinkling night sky. Benny broke the silence.

"That one's a satellite." Bad sat up to face him, clearly confused. "That star that you're looking at, it's not a star, it's a satellite." Benny clarified, pointing upwards in the direction of said satellite. "It's for television broadcasting."

"Now how the hell did you know I was looking at that one?" He seemed equal parts annoyed and intrigued. Benny simply shrugged.

"I'm an astronaut, astronauts know stuff. Now, if you want something interesting, pay attention over there." He gestured off to the side. "Because there is going to be a lot of 'shooting stars' in just a few minutes here."

Bad would have questioned further, but Good was abuzz with excitement.

_"Oh Bad, I love shooting stars! Could I please see them firsthand?" _Good Cop spoke mentally, his excitement shaking their hair. Bad thought a moment, then laid back down on the blanket, only now he was on his stomach. Benny, who was by now floating a few inches, looked over at him, confused.

"Do you… not like shooting stars? They're just meteors that aren't big enough to survive entry-."

Bad Cop cut Benny off before he got a chance to get too deep in his rambles. "I know what a shooting star is, I just have my own way of looking at 'em is all."

Benny pondered this a moment, and then shrugged. "M'kay."

**Author's Note: Hey guys, sorry it's so short, next chapter will be longer, I swear!**


	5. Morning Rituals

"I really liked spending time with Benny." Good Cop spoke as Bad brushed his teeth. "He's very smart and energetic."

Stargazing with Benny had been their first meaningful social outing in God-knows-how-long and Good couldn't seem to stop talking about it. Bad spat out the toothpaste before speaking.

"Bit too 'energetic' for me." He gargled some water and spat again. "Why are you obsessing over last night? We stargazed, he talked, we drove him home; that's all." Bad was usually grumpier before breakfast, this morning was no exception.

"Oh come on, you know you had just as much fun as I did, and you did some of the talking." Good replied as Bad turned around and handed him his toothbrush. "You just love being grumpy so much that you don't want to admit to being happy." Good teased before brushing his teeth. Bad scowled.

After they were done cleaning and dressing themselves, they headed over to the kitchen and Good began the morning ritual of devouring practically everything. Bad simply opened the fridge and leaned back while Good ripped through it. Boiled eggs (shell and all), pre-cooked bacon, and dozens of slightly frozen waffles wasn't even half his usual breakfast. That morning he also enjoyed jerky from a deer Bad had killed, a large container of blackberries, and a quart of orange juice. Breakfast had to be big; it was the meal directly after about eight hours of no food (if Bad was too tired to get a midnight snack) and Good had an appetite on him. Bad didn't really wake up until after Good's breakfast, when the pain was gone, so he was in better spirits… for him. Now it was time for his breakfast, which was a cup of coffee, straight black.

After pouring his cup he sunk into the custom easy chair (it swiveled with ease, had a tray table at the head, and dipped down at the top), flicked on the TV, and spun the chair around so Good could watch the morning news. Bad wasn't a big fan, the anchors were too cheery and he wasn't much of a morning person even after breakfast. Good liked it because the stories were usually light hearted and he felt that he saw enough serious, doom gloom things in his daily life that he didn't need to see it on TV. They had just started reporting on some new internet craze when Bad noticed the time.

"Come on," he sat up, "s'time to head off."

"Oh already?" Good was surprised. "Barely made it through half the program."

During the drive over, Bad noticed his brother was acting a bit strange. "You're awfully quiet." He commented. "Are you still thinking about that astronaut?"

Good sighed. "Yes. He was just so, well, I don't know. He had a vitality to him that was refreshing."

"Does this mean you'd like to see him again?" Bad took on the formal tone he always did when discussing someone Good may have interest in.

"Oh yes! Well, er, maybe... never mind." Their hair went flat, Bad knew his brother was sad.

"You want to meet him personally, don't you?"

"Well, it's not so much to ask is it? To want to meet someone?" Good was headed towards desperation. "To talk to someone face to face? To look in their eyes and have them look in yours?"

Bad sighed sadly and reached for a bag of trail mix. Wordlessly, he lifted a handful to his brother to help him calm down. Good tried to resist, but of course gave in. They continued in this manner until the precinct came into view, at which point Good hid himself, he was still very shy, and Bad finally broke the silence.

"I'll give him a call, find out what I can."


End file.
